Posted: 11:11am 02 Nov 2005

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Hi Peoples,

As a newbie to F&P alternators and wind generated electricity, I figured I could run a little "My Place" topic so you guys could follow my progress.

At the moment I have a series 80 F&P motor rewired as a S/P as per Gizmo's instructions - I have also just finished decogging it. I have chosen to build a VAWT design that resembles ED's design from WindStuffNow

I was originally going to set the F&P alternator in a box with the complete unit inside the box - bearing housing exposed to the topside and mount the VAWT to the shaft. The VAWT will be 60cm dia. X 100cm high.

After seeing that EcoInnovation are now building their 400 series windmills with the blades attached to the rotor end of the shaft - I decided to do the same with my VAWT - the whole unit braced by a steel frame.

I'm going to put all the electronics inside the box. I had some concerns about this - heat related, but now that I'm mounting the F&P alternator this way, I can attach a small fan to the lower shaft inside the box to provide cooling.

I've use 2x 35A bridge rectifiers to create my DC current, which I believe is good for 35A with a decent heat sink. BTW, I can crack out 15-20 volts by hand turn. I have a third rectifier there ready if I need - I believe this with give me 40-50A + capacity.

I have also purchased a K220 shunt regulator kit from Oatley Electronics - looking forward to putting that together.

I must admit that I'm kinda exited about all this because it's a LONG time since I was involved in a project that provided such enthusiasm.

Greg

Posted: 09:08pm 02 Nov 2005

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Hi Greg.

I'm also building one based on Ed's design. My "prop" will be 1100mm high and 1300mm diameter, givine me a frontal area of about 1.4m square. Hopefully this size will overcome the starting torque on a standard F&P stator ( not decoged ).

With any luck I will some something to photograph this weekend, and be up in the air by next weekend.

Glenn

Posted: 10:04pm 02 Nov 2005

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Wayne, if you really get stuck getting your hands on an F&P motor, I can probably scrounge one up from here (Australia). Very popular machine here. I have the scrap yard guy accross the road dumping F&P washing machines in my yard every now and then(for a small fee).

If you just want the basics ie stator, rotor, plates, bolts bearings and bearing housing unmodified, I'll definitely have one in the next couple of weeks - you would need to let me know if you want and 60 or 80 series - AU$45.00.

International postage is a bummer I know. I believe the weight at approx 8kg - translates to AU$108 to Canada via Economy Air. If that fits your budget, let me know. (8kg is just a guess - need to check. If it's less, shipping cost is less)

Posted: 10:00pm 03 Nov 2005

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Hi Wayne,

Neat looking vawt....just what I'm trying to do. Small and portable. It looks to be around 70cm(28") tall with a dia. of 30cm(14").

This is an uneducated guess, but based on what I've seen, your right. I think you need to get more torque capability in there, and as you said, a larger dia. will do it.

After I decogged the F&P, there was a noticable difference in the effort required to turn it. The Eco Innovation claim a reduction from 900-950 to 450-500 after decogging.

Greg

Posted: 01:24am 04 Nov 2005

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To decog, I actually used an angle grinder. Not as neat as you see in the EcoInnovation PDF's, but the required effect has been achieved. 

I think the important thing is to keep the middle at it's original height/air gap. Tapering the edges reduces the total air gap at each finger, hence the reduction in cogging.

Greg

Posted: 10:05am 05 Nov 2005

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hi chris If need a rotor as l have spare one for sale

regard ian

Posted: 07:39am 07 Nov 2005

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Well my K220 Shunt Regulator Kit has finally arrived from Oatley Electronics. I gotta tell ya, I'm in shock. I was expecting a kit with a board around 3"x5", but as you can see by the image, it's tiny.

Not only am I a first timer with this stuff, but with my eyes...hmm, I think a challenge ahead of me.

....OK Greg....here we go.....

Posted: 12:57am 08 Nov 2005

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I'm having a problem calculating the "Wing Chord" size for my vawt. I'm using Ed's method(see image).

• Diameter = 60cm(600mm)
• Circumference by my calculation is = 189cm(1890mm)
• Wing Width by my calculation = 8.4cm(84mm)
• Wing Chord by my calculation - 17cm(170mm) ??

The Wing Chord seems to small. The equation is Circumference X .09 = Wing Chord. ie 1890 X .09 = 170.1mm.

Also, I was thinking of increasing the Wing width to 120mm to achieve better torque. Could this cause problems?

Posted: 08:38am 09 Nov 2005

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Well I've finally finished this little K220 shunt regulator and I was kinda hoping that one of you electro wiz guys could check my work - and tell me a few things about the board itself.

The image is a link to a 199kb 1400x1300 jpg file that is a closeup of the board assembled front and back. I even flipped the backside image so the components on the topside matched the solder points on the bottom.

I've made a few comments on the image which I hope someone can respond to - easier than asking a whole heap of questions here without a reference. Here's a link to the schematics.

The next question is, how do I know it works? I don't, and I have no idea how to check it - any help please

I actually found the soldering easy using my little gadget magifying glass, but I had a real problem identifying some of the diodes - colour variation was the main cause.

Greg

Posted: 09:38am 09 Nov 2005

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Hi Chris,

I've been following Ed's progress on his VAWT he calls "The Lenz Turbine". You can see his website here.

Glenn (Gizmo) is also working on a similar project.